Medical Officer (Maternity Cover)

CONTEXT

Founded in 1994, La Chaîne de l’Espoir (CDE) is an international NGO headquartered in Paris, France. Its mission is to strengthen healthcare systems and provide everyone, especially children, equal chances and opportunities for survival and development.
CDE is currently active in twenty-seven (27) countries with a global approach, mainly focusing on children, mothers, and disadvantaged communities. Find our activities briefly elaborated as follows:
• Prevention and screening from an early age, particularly through school health programs.
• Care and surgery to meet the most urgent needs of children and their mothers.
• Training and transfer of skills to local teams (capacity building) thanks to our international network of experts in all areas of surgery.
• Construction and equipment of hospital facilities adapted to local needs.

CDE has been implementing humanitarian activities in Lebanon since 2005, working through local partners, such as HeartBeat, in order to provide access to medico-surgical care to children suffering from cardiopathies and orthopedics disabilities. Late 2020, CDE eventually opened its mission in Lebanon to respond to growing needs due to the significant deterioration of the situation. Since then, CDE is implementing activities related to the tertiary healthcare, including several aspects such as the strengthening of the healthcare system, early detection of congenital orthopedics disorders, psychosocial support, etc – via direct and indirect (through local partners) implementation. Lately, CDE is launching a large-scale project to provide general pediatric surgery for vulnerable populations through a network of governmental hospitals.

Under the supervision of the Acting Medical Manager, the Medical Officer will provide technical support to ensure the quality and consistency of CDE’s health interventions across its programs in Lebanon. The Medical Officer will assist in field operations, external representation, medical reporting, capacity building, project management, and strategic development during the maternity leave coverage period.

Main Responsibilities

1- Medical/Health Technical Support:

• Perform regular field visits to ensure CDE’s intervention is up to medical/health standards.
• Follow up on the implementation of technical recommendations provided to the Program team.
• Assist in the planning and delivery of sensitization and training sessions for CDE’s teams to ensure a shared understanding of medical and health priorities.
• Support in preparing and submitting monthly reports, as well as ad-hoc internal reports and analysis related to medical and health subjects to the Acting Medical Manager.
• Keep the acting medical manager and CDE’s team informed on any medical/health-related challenges and opportunities.

2- Project Cycle Management, Networking, and External Representation:

• Support the Acting Medical Manager in representing CDE with external stakeholders, including the humanitarian community, Ministry of Health, syndicates, service providers, partners, authorities, and donors, in coordination with relevant CDE departments.
• Assist in the development of medical/health-related criteria, medical quality indicators, monitoring tools, and standard operating procedures, in collaboration with the Program team.
• Support the Acting Medical Manager in the implementation of field activities for ongoing projects, including:
o Validation of patients’ medical files, including requested diagnostic tests, suggested treatments, surgical codes, NICU/PICU stays
o Technical review and approval of hospital invoices and proformas.
o Negotiation of medical costs when necessary.
o Monitoring the quality, relevance and adequacy of care provided to patients.
o Ensuring appropriate post-operative care plans are in place.
o Coordinating with surgeons, pediatricians, and neonatologists at CDE-contracted facilities, including negotiating treatment plans or requested tests in cases of disagreement or concerns about medical necessity.
o Act as clinical pediatric focal point to follow-up on complex cases.
• Support the monitoring and evaluation of capacity building and awareness activities.
• Follow up on medical assessments, identify gaps in treatments and areas of no medical improvement and investigate accordingly in close collaboration with the Acting Medical Manager.
• Conduct field visits to contracted hospitals' NICUs and PICUs, complete checklists, and report any deviations from standard practices.
• Participate in the on-call schedule to provide medical approvals and monitor patient care outside of regular working hours, including weekends and holidays.
• Support in organizing morbidity and mortality review meetings with relevant doctors/ hospitals’ members, investigating the cases, and developing a final report with action plans and recommendations after these meetings, in coordination with the Acting Medical Manager.
• Support in donor’s reporting (medical/health-related sections).

3- Contribution to Country Strategy and Proposal Development:

• Assist in the development and updating of CDE’s country strategy, in close collaboration with the Acting Medical Manager.
• Support technically in the needs assessments, in close collaboration with the relevant CDE departments.
• Support in providing technical input to proposal development and amendments.
• Support the drafting and revision of medical policies.

4- Other Duties:

• Assist in the preparation and conduction of evaluations and audits related to medical and health activities.
• Perform other tasks assigned by the Acting Medical Manager.

Team Relationship

Line & Technical Manager: Acting Medical Manager
Line & Technical Reports: None
Close Collaboration With: Program and Social Departments

Profile

Academic background
• Medical Degree (required)
• Specialization / Experience in Pediatrics or Surgery (preferred)
Working Experience
• Minimum 5 years of clinical experience in healthcare, including secondary and tertiary care (required).
• Minimum 3 years of experience in humanitarian health programs (required).
• Experience in medical data analysis and reporting (required).
• Previous involvement in research, policymaking, or health system strengthening (preferred).
Specific Skills
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) (required).
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving skills (required).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills (required).
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and adapt to rapidly changing environments (required).
Languages
• Fluent in Arabic and English (spoken, written, and reading) (required).
• Proficiency in French is an asset (preferred).

CDE always ensures its team members:
- Are driven to answer beneficiaries’ needs
- Works in line with the humanitarian principles and CDE’s values
- Respects at all-time CDE’s procedures in place
- Have a sense of teamwork in a multicultural context
- Maintain confidentiality of work

Please note that interviews may take place on a rolling basis.